Finding Lempira: home sweet home

could she BE any cuter?

I have been on US soil for almost 4 days now and I feel like time is flying. It has been great to connect with my family and get reacquainted with my favorite niece who is almost 1 whole year old!

Someone asked me how I can deal with the culture shock of being in one place for so long, spend a few hours on a plane, and drop right back in to the crazy, technologically-advanced, option-loaded life that is American culture.

And the truth is I don't know how I do it. It just happens. I move from one "life" to the "other" feeling like I have each foot in a completely separate world...one where I miss my family and friends, and the other where I learn and discover new things every day, immersed in a completely different language and culture. There are so many good things about both! And of course, there are frustrating/scary/difficult things in each respective location.

Since the shiny-newness of Honduran culture has worn off a bit, and I just returned to my homeland, I will list for you some observations that hit me in the first few days:

1) Americans are sloppy dressers while traveling. This will come to no surprise to many of you, but now that I have to put on earrings and cute shoes just to walk to the grocery store, my idea of "comfort" has changed. Hondurans dress up to go ANYWHERE. All I saw in the Atlanta airport were girls with shorty shorts, flip-flops, and pony-tails (nothing color coordinating, mind you) and I thought "You should go back to bed, child. What do you think you are doing in public?"

2) Toilet paper goes in the toilet. Common sense, I know, and something I did for the last 20-some years of my life before Honduras...but new habits die hard.

3) options OpTiOnS OPTIONS! Everywhere you go (mostly grocery stores) have an overwhelming array of options. An example: you go to the store, lets say for a cookie...first, there is an entire aisle of cookies... so you narrow it down to an oreo. now there is a whole oreo section with at least 13 varieties to pick from. I cant even take it. Im pretty sure in Santa Rosa my oreo options are regular y dorada (white cookie choco center...).

4) cost of living things...food, gas, etc. Most prices seem to be comparable, especially in grocery items, and in fact gas in Honduras is much more expensive...but incomes are not comparable in Honduras. Monthly wages are much lower which drives the demand for more public transport and a very different living standard.

happy to see my poppa at the airport!

These are some very basic observations in my short time back, but its helpful for me to process the differences between my two cultures, from the funny and ridiculous to the serious and challenging things.

I am very grateful for the privelege of being able to travel, all the "luxuries" of home, and some restful vacation time with my family.

Here are some pics of what I've been up to. Hoping to blog soon about some more recent things that happened in my sometimes crazy and dramatic Honduran experience :)